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Being back in the working world is really impeding my blogging but fear not .. I am alive and well!
After what seemed like an impossibly long cold rainy winter, made longer and worser in no small way by the excellent weather Ireland was experiencing and the neverending tweets/emails/texts/fb chats I was getting about it, Perth is finally starting to heat up. It was 37.2 degrees yesterday which was LOVELY! I was delighted for Ireland getting such lovely weather as I know from living here that nothing lifts the spirits as much as a warm breeze, summer clothes and the abilty to plan outdoor events and we all know Ireland needs a lift …so I trust you will all be equally delighted for me when I start tweeting photos of my bronzed feet in the white sand to a blue ocean background. No?!

In other news …..
I cycle to and from work now its not very far approximately 3.5 kilometres, but in the morning its mostly uphill. My bike is, much like myself, built for comfort and not for speed! So the hills are a struggle but I’m seeing it as an extra bit of exercise and am fully convinced that any day now I will wake up with Heidi Klum legs. Going home in the evening I revert to being a child and free wheel most of the way, sometimes I even stick my legs out and yell WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! The more serious cyclists in their matching lycra on skinny little bikes don’t seem to enjoy this as much as I do. They don’t know what they’re missing.

My job is going well, I am still enjoying having a purpose and a fortnightly payday! But I have noticed that having a job has brought a whole new set of worries … am I being challenged enough? what will my next move be? should I do a course? what course??? Yes, my never ending pursuit of education is back on the table, I do love a bit of study and would really like to do some here, to experience a different country’s education for one thing but I’m sure some homegrown qualifications wouldn’t do my CV any harm either. I still have a longing to do a butchering class, it was an idea that I formed before coming to Australia but had to be shelved when I didn’t have an income, so I am going to make moves on that in 2014. Looks like I have one new years resolution already …..

Oh and some big news, although if you follow me on twitter you will have heard all about it a couple of weeks ago … After 18 months of stress and strain we got our Permanent Residency! This means we can stay and work in Australia as residents for at least 5 years, at which time we can apply to renew/extend it but in reality once we have lived here 4 years we can apply to be citizens and get Australian passports which is more likely what we will do. We’ve been here almost 2 years now … time flies!

As for what I’ve been eating and cooking? Well lots of Indian food lately as I have had the good fortune to make a great new friend who writes this blog: and spent an afternoon recently teaching myself and the lovely Mel from LipstickHoney how to cook some beautiful Indian dishes. One recipe in particular from her blog we make at least once a week, Kheema or Mince Curry. Its so simple that its hard to believe its so tasty! Try it! And don’t be scared of the chillies … you’ll see that they cook for a while so there’s no scary heat left in them. This is not a hot spicy dish at all. Last night we had this served with cubes of fried turmeric potatoes (parboil, cut in cubes, sprinkle with turmeric and fry), greek yoghurt and grated cheese … it was a like a fancy Indian version of Taco Fries! It was as delicious as it was bold. I’m not sure its exactly how purist Indian cooks would serve it but believe it me it was fab.

Here is the link to the original recipe which has some useful photos for making it the first time. I’ve added a few little comments below because that’s how I roll … x

Kheema or Mince Curry

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 bay leaves (fresh or dried work fine)

2 cloves

2 peppercorns

1 large onion finely chopped

3 green chillies

1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste (You can buy this paste in Asian shops/supermarket but I just crush 2 garlic cloves and grate a teaspoon of fresh ginger, mash together)

2 medium tomatoes finely chopped

3 tsp tomato paste/puree

500g mince (I’ve made with both beef and chicken, the dishes are different but both great. Any meat minced will work!)

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp red chilli powder (if you are very worried about the spiciness cut back on this not the fresh chillies)

Once the seeds start to splutter add the chopped onions and green chillies and sauté till the onions turn a light brown in color.

Add the Ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, tomato paste and sauté. This sauce is now known as a MASALA. You need to make sure that the masala is cooked well until the oil starts to separate.

It is very important to sauté the masala well or else the dish will not taste good.

Once the oil in the masala has separated add the mince, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masasla, salt and sauté again for 5 minutes.

Be careful that it doesn’t burn.

Add the Peas

It is very important at this stage you lower the heat and cook the mince for almost 10 minutes in the masala (chicken will cook faster than beef so use your own judgement as to when the meat is cooked)

The gravy is meant to be dry so be careful not to flood the dish with too much water. It has to be just enough for the meat to cook. Give it around 10 – 15 minutes to cook properly and then sprinkle some fresh coriander while serving.

You can serve this dish with potatoes, rice, naan bread or other veggies if you are attempting to cut back on carbs. Cauliflower goes very well with curries, I’m still promoting cauli at every opportunity.

I’ve great food memories of eating it smothered in cheese sauce with mashed potatoes, roast lamb and gravy .. so tasty, a real Sunday dinner!

Recently I’ve been experimenting with roasting cauli in a little coconut oil with cumin seeds and some chilli, it works really well as long as you don’t over do it in which case it becomes really dry.

This recipe from My New Roots solves the over cooking problem as the tandoori yoghurt paste encases the whole cauliflower and it stays really moist and delicious inside. It also looks really cool!

If you don’t have all the spices (nor the inclination) to make the tandoori mix up yourself a pre-made spice mix or paste will work just as well. Pataks are readily available in both Ireland and Australia and are decent quality (Jamie Oliver recommends them doncha know?). Green Saffron is an Irish spice company whose mixes I used all the time when at home, available in Avoca, online and I believe now in some of the large supermarket chains. I’m not an expert of any sort on Indian spices but I’d imagine this would work with any type of curry paste, I’d give it a go if I was in a hurry anyway.

I made this last friday and there was at least two thirds left over so I chopped it up the next day, made a quick cheesy sauce (sour cream, grated cheese, dijon mustard and drop of milk) poured it over and into the oven for about 10 minutes .. it was wonderful! The cheese worked really well with the spices and the result was comfort food at its best.

I often feel cauli is one of those vegetables that people either love or hate, perhaps childhood/school memories of it being over cooked into tasteless mush contribute to this? But its a veg I would reccommend you give another go, it works really well with indian and middle eastern flavours. Its packed full of vitamins, anti oxidants and other healthy stuff .. its cheap, it can be easily grown and its pretty like a flower … have I convinced you yet?

Do you have any other ideas for cauliflower? What’s your favourite way to eat it?